[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Samwise the Stouthearted

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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

Always loved this card in theory. Mostly because that was my first block.

Even with Doubling Season, I wish it had more versatility. My Multani had a jank Treefolk package, which included Wickerbough Elder, which just seems like a better include most of the time. And it would work well in new Volrath.

Tangle Wire and Parallax Dementia would be the only fading cards I consider.
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

I would say you're always better off with Wickerbough Elder, yeah. Still, it would be a nice thought if your meta is extremely artifact-heavy, and a 4/6 for five mana with upside was pretty crazy back in Nemesis.
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

Clearly a treefolk or an elemental, called a beast. Masques block was weird.

I would honestly prefer Wickerbough Elder in most cases. Not all, if I'm doing a deck where my creatures get +1/+1 counters from entry (e.g., Cathars' Crusade, Juniper Order Ranger), I would obviously prefer Woodriper, but Wickerbough does have this nice bit where you can use those "put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control" as a cost cards to replenish its counters. It also destroys enchantments.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
I a 4/6 for five mana with upside was pretty crazy back in Nemesis.
Anything is crazy when one theme around the set is sacrificing your own lands for minimal value. Say hi to wintermoon mesa for me.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

I don't think I've ever seen Woodripper before. Six mana to blow up one artifact, plus dealing with Fading.... seems a bit inefficient. As others have said, Wickerbough Elder works similarly, and also has a bunch of synergies with -1/-1 counters. Alternatively, Reclamation Sage, Acidic Slime, Glissa Sunseeker.... there are a lot of options for artifact (and enchantment) removal in green.

The best use for it would probably be in a deck with a lot of proliferate (like Atraxa, Praetors' Voice) or some way to flicker and reset the counters (like Roon of the Hidden Realm). It is capable of hitting multiple targets by itself (which most other cards can't), so it may be worth consideration if you expect a lot of artifacts, or are running Mycosynth Lattice and other ways to turn things into artifacts.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

I think I want to liken this most similar to Molder Slug. I think i can justify this in the right build (Karador and Meren come to mind sin since you can apply tremendous pressure toward artifact based decks) although it's harder to do so with force of vigor existing. Lots and lots of options.

But I do think this card is playable all-in-all.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Saturday, October 5th, 2019; Thing in the Ice


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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Thing in the Ice is a cool card. It does suffer somewhat in the transition from 20 life to a 40 life format - a 7/8 beater isn't quite as impressive in EDH. We also have Evacuation legal is a mass bounce effect that requires significantly fewer hoops to jump through. Crush of Tentacles is also an option if you really care about the body, as is Kederekt Leviathan. An awkward thing with Thing in particular is that many spellslinger decks rely on spell-based win conditions, which means that creature beatdown doesn't contribute as much to the gameplan.

Still, at two mana, it's definitely the cheapest version of this effect available. Getting down to a single counter and being able to flip on demand with an Opt or other cheap instant also seems pretty good.

Also, shout to Horror tribal. Clearly the strongest Atraxa, Praetors' Voice archetype, although I also see some synergy with Yarok, the Desecrated to bounce your own creatures.

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Post by Toshi » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
I'm pretty sure Thing in the Ice ranks among the Top 10 visuals in Magic for me.
Both sides have absolutely stunning artwork and the maritime Trojan Horse theme creates a vibrant story of its own in my head.

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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

Wish it were snow! =P
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Saturday, October 5th, 2019; Thing in the Ice
It's a favourite of mine in decks featuring walkers. An 0/4 for 1U is okay to stop chip damage against an early walker, and the mass bounce is also pretty effective. All in all, I like it, but I wouldn't play it in too many decks; the mass bounce doesn't lend itself to creature decks, and the 7/8 body isn't so awesome that it's going to win on its own.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Sunday, October 6th, 2019; Karn's Bastion


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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Sunday, October 6th, 2019; Karn's Bastion
5 mana, even at instant speed, is a lot to pay for one proliferate. And now, the common refrain: "But the opportunity cost is low!"

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Sinis wrote:
4 years ago
5 mana, even at instant speed, is a lot to pay for one proliferate.
The standard rate for repeatable proliferate on an activated ability is 4-5 mana - see Contagion Clasp, Merfolk Skydiver, and Viral Drake. So, this looks to be a fair price. There are some ways to do it cheaper, but those require sacrifice or discard.

Proliferate is a powerful mechanic, although it does depend on how many things you're proliferating. I've seen it do work in Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and superfriends decks - proliferating -1/-1 counters and loyalty counters is pretty high value. On the other hand, I don't think I would run it to proliferate +1/+1 counters, since Gavony Township does it better. Also a bit expensive for experience counters.

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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
The standard rate for repeatable proliferate on an activated ability is 4-5 mana
You're not wrong; it's just an expensive ability. I think that the repeatability of it is not that exciting, though; there are plenty of one-time effects (some of which are adjacent) that will generally get the job done. Mostly, I'm thinking of Roalesk, Apex Hybrid and Deepglow Skate..

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Definitely not as strong as other common proliferators or counter abusers. Deepglow Skate being the high water mark, this is a lot more costly by comparison. Even Flux Channeler is a lot stronger, Evolution Sage too is pretty great if you're in those colours. Nonetheless, if you're doing super friends redundancy of the effect is nice, so it has it's place.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Proliferate is just such a hard mechanic to evaluate. It goes from having an absolutely low floor, to a ridiculously high ceiling. As such, it makes cards like these very hard to cover.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Monday, October 7th, 2019; Sword of Truth and Justice


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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

I love that proliferate does not target.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Monday, October 7th, 2019; Sword of Truth and Justice
I bought a copy, and have yet to play it. Also, per the conversation surrounding Karn's Bastion yesterday, repeatable proliferate can be cheaper than 5 mana per iteration, apparently.

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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Proliferate: a strong mechanic.

I don't think Sword of MTG and Salvation is the strongest member of the cycle (protection from blue gets you considerably less removal-proofing than other protections do but pro-white is good) but it's good enough if you're throwing counters around, and there are lots of decks that do so.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I have a copy and I think I put it in a deck or two but I can't recall having ever drawn it in those decks. I feel like you really want to be in kind of specific types of decks for it to maybe feel reasonable. It feels like a card where if you are in counters, walkers, or a double striker is when you would maybe consider it.

The downside in my opinion is that its bonuses are VERY situational. Like, sure its great to make your board bigger but what if everything is blown up the next turn. In my mind its really something where a non walker commander deck built around walkers is where you maybe run it.
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

A proliferate spin on slith, and it's a sword! Super. 52/10
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Sword of Truth and Justice is one of the weaker swords. Protection from blue tends to be a little niche (it doesn't have that many targeted removal spells), but protection from white is good. However, the interesting part is usually going to be the trigger - a +1/+1 counter and proliferate, which is going to vary wildly in value depending on the deck.

At its base, you throw two counters on the wielder, which is... fine, but not amazing - I would usually prefer card advantage from Sword of Fire and Ice. If you expect to have counters on multiple creatures, or have loyalty / experience / charge / etc counters that you care about, it could be much stronger. If you throw it on a creature with double strike (or have multiple combats), you can potentially proliferate multiple times in a single turn, which gets pretty silly.

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Post by PrimevalCommander » 4 years ago

Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
Sword of Truth and Justice is one of the weaker swords. Protection from blue tends to be a little niche (it doesn't have that many targeted removal spells), but protection from white is good. However, the interesting part is usually going to be the trigger - a +1/+1 counter and proliferate, which is going to vary wildly in value depending on the deck.
I agree here. One of the weaker swords, but gains much value if you care about counters. I actually like Sinew and Steel better because you can ask an opponent to let you deal damage in order to target a different players artifact/planeswalker to get more value. Proliferate is very situational depending on the deck.

I have all the swords for completeness. Seems they are trying to make them safer every time they are printed. I hope when they finish the set the new swords still have some semblance of value on the triggered abilities.

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